IT DOES SEEM quite a boring week. Nothing much, really nothing interesting, just your usual politicians and their “paid barkers” stroking themselves to mutual gratification.
The virtues and everything good about their “sponsors” these “paid barkers” claim make one wonder if these politicians are so good and they’re God’s gift to the Ilonggos. Then perhaps God himself or herself (depending on your preference) will just come down from heaven and stop the coming elections and just appoint them Himself with the usual thunder and lightning, angelic music and voices singing halleluiahs.
Perhaps we will just pray to “Saint Cory” that she will give the Ilonggos a leader with all her “virtues” and, more and above all, has this penchant for giving schoolbags to schoolchildren with his name emblazoned prominently on the schoolbags.
Oh well this circus happens every three years and we call them the local elections. As they say, “same shit, different day.”
And we segue to something much, much better, in fact, way better than your usual corrupt politician spending millions for a salary three years combined will not even come close to what he/she actually spent just to be a governor or mayor.
Let’s talk about music, my kind of music. Not that shit you hear on the radio or the ones these so-called millennials mistakenly refer to as music.
The column title is “Blues for Salvador” and to enlighten you, from that free online encyclopedia a.k.a. the internet:
Blues for Salvador is a 1987 album by Carlos Santana, dedicated to his wife, Deborah Santana. The record was released by Carlos Santana as a solo project, not with the Santana band. It won the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, his first Grammy ever.
And the man, rather the artist, in focus Carlos Santana is a Mexican and American musician who first became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American jazz.
The band’s sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades.
He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2015, Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at No. 20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.
I first heard of the music of Carlos Santana sometime 1969 and was blown away. It was totally different from the usual fare of hard rock so prevalent during those “dazed and confused” days, a blues-based fusion of rock and Latin jazz.
The music, at least to me, was Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and Tito Puente combined heavy on guitar riffs and percussion instruments, a totally heady fusion of different musical genres into one musical sound…the “Santana” sound.
From a review in www.amazon.com:
Blues for Salvador is credited as “Carlos Santana” album as opposed to a “Santana” (band) release, even though it appears chronologically during a late 80’s somewhat dry spell utilizing most of Santana key personnel.
Originally released in late 1987 (October), the 80s had not been commercially or critically productive for Carlos and band. Zebop! In ’81 was the last strong effort and remained the best band album of the 80’s.
Salvador, however, was a solid “collection” of some private memorabilia from Carlos, which is perhaps why it was released as a “solo” album, that and the fact that the musicians on the tracks were varied.
First of all, the album as a whole was dedicated to his wife and spiritual partner (at the time) Deborah. It boasts a song for his daughter (Bella) and the title track for his son Salvador, both of which are among the best tracks on the CD.
Bella especially is a beautiful new age jazz confection somewhat reminiscent of Andreas Vollenweider’s early works; and Blues for Salvador is a terrific though typical Santana guitar instrumental, one of his best works.
The album did manage to garner Carlos his first ever Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the title track of course.
And from AllMusic Review by Chris Devonshire-Ellis:
This release allows Carlos to make a recording away from the restrictions of the Santana band, and bring in a bunch of other musicians to explore his unique way of playing.
But these are no hacks; its friends from afar as the ilk of Buddy Miles, Alphonso Johnson, Tony Williams and many others join in the fun. Santana just about manages to steer the right side of his secret heavy metal passion as he lights up some heavy … heavy monster sounds, and overall we get a rather more rock based outing than is typical Santana band fare.
Don’t be misled by the title, there’s not much blues going on here, and that’s a shame as he is more than capable.
At moments he sounds like he’s trying to audition to join Thin Lizzy. Blues for Salvador then is fun, but slips into the ether as yet another Santana jam without the intense Latin joy that he can produce when at his best. You’ll enjoy the experience, but be unable to whistle any tunes from it an hour later. Nice, well played, yet unremarkable.
All in all a great musical experience different from your usual Carlos Santana Band albums but still has that distinct sound you would expect and more./PN
